Port Louis
Mauritius
- Ghazi Mabrouk
- Manish Lobin
Intermediate
Event organizer(s)
Supported by
Description
This 3.5-day training course provides essential steps and guidelines for designing effective cybersecurity exercises, focusing on the practical aspects of cybersecurity. During the course, participants will learn how to define objectives, choose appropriate approaches, create realistic scenarios, establish rules, select relevant metrics, and capture valuable lessons.
The program also emphasizes developing cyber disaster response simulations, enhancing participants' ability to foster collaboration between the public and private sector entities. By the end of the course, participants will gain a deeper understanding of cyber-attacks and strategies for protecting and defending critical information infrastructures. These skills will enable them to better plan, implement, and follow up on cyber disaster responses.
With generous support from the Global Gateway initiative of the European Union, participation in this training programme is free of charge for selected applicants. This includes accommodation, meals, and other planned learning activities during the training. Participants or their organizations are responsible for covering their travel expenses and visa application costs for Mauritius if needed.
This training is intended for policymakers, ICT regulators and government officials such as Information Security Officers, Security Managers, Network Engineers and System Administrators.
The maximum number of participants in this training is limited to 25 participants.
Members of the above-mentioned target population are invited to apply for the training if they meet the following criteria:
- Hold an undergraduate degree in a relevant field or have a minimum of three years of experience in incident response, network security, information system security and system administration if they do not hold a university degree.
- Possess a fluent level of English.
- Complete the application questionnaire and attach an up-to-date CV, a recommendation letter from their employer, and a motivation letter.
Government officials and policymakers from developing countries, particularly women, are encouraged to apply. Selection will be conducted by the course organizers, who will consider the above entry requirements along with an analysis of the application questionnaire and the recommendation/motivation letter of each applicant.
Upon completing the training, participants will be able to:
- Develop incident response and crisis management plans
- Design a cyber security simulation exercise
- Execute table-top exercises (TTX) and live simulations
- Develop effective communication plans for an effective interaction with all actors during crisis.
The training will include presentations by subject matter experts, analysis of examples and real-life case studies, as well as group exercises followed by instructor feedback. Cyber simulation scenarios based on cyber threats such as advanced persistent threats (APTs), AI-based threats, phishing, ransomware, among others, will be conducted.
Grading matrix:
- Active participation: 10%
- Group exercise & presentation 1: 20%
- Group exercise & presentation 2: 20%
- Group exercise (simulation exercise) 3: 20%
- Final exam: 30%
A total score of 70% or higher is required to obtain the ITU certificate. Please note that full attendance throughout the training is mandatory for certification.
Day 1 – Monday, 8 June 2026
10:00-11:00: Principles of Cyber Incident Response
- Cybersecurity preparedness
- Cyber incident response plan
- Learning outcomes:
- Formulate the key components of incident response plan development
- Outline key actions for the coordination of a cyber response
- Execute an incident response plan
11:00-12:30: Classwork and discussion on the principles of cyber incident response
- Describe the theoretical and practical dimensions of cyber incident response, including analysis, coordination, and mitigation strategies
13:30-14:30: Introduction to Cyber Simulation Exercises
- Introduction to simulation exercises
- Benefits of simulation exercises
- Types of exercises
- Exercise planning
- Learning outcomes:
- Recognize the basis of a simulation exercise
- Insights into the different types of exercises and when to have them
- Familiarity with the different stages of the exercise planning process
14:30-15:00: Developing Realistic Cyber Scenarios
- Design components and development of scenarios
- Learning outcomes:
- Formulate requirements for developing cyber exercises (scope, objective, etc.)
- Writing of scenarios
- Scenario progress and injects finalization
- Scenario hosting requirements
15:15-16:15: Exercise, group presentation and debrief session
- Integrate and apply concepts of exercise preparation, planning, and scenario design to develop coherent and effective cyber exercises
Day 2 – Tuesday, 9 June 2026
09:00-10:00: Conducting Table-Top Exercises
- Implementation of table-top scenarios
- Learning outcomes:
- Plan and implement effective tabletop exercises
- Elaborate actions for containing attacks and recovering from them
- Enhance communication and decision-making process in the event of a real cyber-attack
10:30-11:30: Classwork and discussion on the development of cyber scenarios
- Develop scenarios, to include key principles, structures, and methodologies for creating effective cyber exercise scenarios
13:00-14:00: Implementation of Practical (Hands-On) Scenarios
- Infrastructure requirements
- Preparation of simulation environment
- Learning outcomes:
- Prepare the configuration of a simulation environment, including network architecture, exercise platforms, and participant roles, to support realistic cyber exercises
14:30-16:00: Exercise, group presentation and debrief session
- Reinforce and integrate the concepts covered on the design and implementation of tabletop and live simulation exercises through applied discussion and reflection
Day 3 – Wednesday, 10 June 2026
09:00-10:00: Running a Live Simulation
- Example of the implementation of a simulation exercise
- Learning outcomes:
- Analyze the practical implementation of a simulation exercise to apply key operational steps and coordination processes
11:15-12:00: Post-exercise Evaluation and Lessons Learned
- Review the results of cyber simulation exercises
- Extract key lessons from exercises conducted
13:00-14:30: Exercise and debrief session
- Explore how technical simulation exercises are designed and conducted while stepping into the role of an incident responder to investigate what went wrong
Day 4 – Thursday, 11 June 2025
- 09:30-10:30: Exam - one-hour, individual multiple-choice quiz on the topics covered
- 10:30-10:45: Course evaluation
- 11:00 – 12:30: Certificate award ceremony & closing
Tutors
Registration information
Unless specified otherwise, all ITU Academy training courses are open to all interested professionals, irrespective of their race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, economic status and other diverse backgrounds. We strongly encourage registrations from female participants, and participants from developing countries. This includes least developed countries, small island developing states and landlocked developing countries.
